KR20070049037A - Method and apparatus for embodying pvr using home network devices - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of implementing a PVR using a home network device. According to the present invention, when a client playing content in a home network receives a user input for starting a time shift, the broadcast is received in real time. When a playback input is received during uploading, the content is received and played back from the server, and at the same time, the broadcast received in real time on the broadcast channel is re-uploaded so that the user does not need a separate PVR device. Function is available.

Description

Method and apparatus for embodying PVR using home network devices

1 is a view for explaining a method of using content in a general home network;

2 is a view for explaining a method for implementing a PVR using a home network device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of processing content in a UPnP control point according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a diagram showing the structure of a CreateObject message according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a view for explaining the operation of the PVR implemented according to an embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the media server according to an embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a structural diagram of a client device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a home network, and more particularly, to a method of processing content in a device of a home network.

Technical research on home networks and various standardization tasks are accelerated, and an environment in which a user can operate various home network devices with a single remote control in a home is becoming more and more realistic. For example, in an environment where a home network is established, a user may share digital content with various home network devices such as a PC through a TV.

1 is a diagram for describing a method of using content in a general home network. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the home network is based on the UPnP AV architecture.

As shown in FIG. 1, the control point first sends a CreateObject message requesting the creation of an item to the media server's CDS in order to upload the content to the media server, and the media server references the parameter included in the CreateObject message to create the item. Create The control point notified that the item has been created transmits the content to the media server via HTTP POST. The media server receives the content until the last packet of the content and updates the items in the CDS (Content Directory Service) when the upload is completed. After the items in the CDS are updated, the control point can call the Browse () or Search () of the CDS to use the content uploaded to the server.

In other words, according to the conventional technology described above, in the home network, the user cannot obtain the URL information for accessing the actual content even though the control point is browsed through the CDS item until the upload of the content to the media server is completed. When playing content and uploading to a media server at the same time, a timeshift function such as a personal video recorder (PVR) was not available.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for implementing a PVR using a home network device and an apparatus therefor.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for processing content by a client that receives and reproduces content that has been uploaded to a server in a home network from the server. Uploading to the server from the time at which a timeshift input of is received; (b) terminating the upload if an external input for playing an arbitrary time point after the time point is received in the content during the uploading.

Here, (c) reproducing the uploaded amount from the time point at which the reproduction is requested by the external input of the step (b) and simultaneously uploading the content received from the channel to the server from the time point at which the upload is finished. It may further include.

Here, when the reproduction of the upload amount of step (a) is completed, after the upload of the step (c) is finished, the upload of the step (c) is reproduced from the beginning and the upload of the step (c) is performed. It is preferable to upload the content received in the channel to the server from the end point.

The present invention also provides a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the content processing method on a computer.

In addition, the present invention provides a client device for playing content that has finished uploading to a server in a home network, wherein the content received from a real-time broadcasting channel is transmitted to the server from a time when an external timeshift input is received. An upload unit that performs one upload and terminates the first upload when an external input for playing an arbitrary time point after the time point is received from the content among the first uploads; And a reproducing unit reproducing the first upload amount from a time point corresponding to an external input received during the first upload.

Here, the upload unit preferably performs a second upload that transmits the content received from the time point when the first upload is terminated in the channel to the server while the playback unit plays the first upload amount.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a diagram illustrating a method of implementing a PVR using a home network device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When a user watches live broadcasts using a digital TV and instructs the user to start a time shift by pressing the <PAUSE> button on the remote control, the digital TV plays the received live broadcast and uploads the content received from the current broadcast channel to the media server. . When the time shift starts, the control point of the digital TV first requests creation of an item corresponding to the content to be uploaded to the media server (201), and then uploads the received broadcast content (202). Of course, while the upload is in progress, the digital TV plays the received broadcast.

If the user presses the play button while the digital TV is uploading and playing in parallel, the control point terminates the upload, and the media server reflects the uploaded amount to the CDS item so that the control point can access it. When the CDS item is updated, the control point browses and reproduces the uploaded item (204), and uploads the broadcast again after the upload is completed (205 and 207). In addition, the control point may request the server to include the reproduction order information of the newly starting upload item in the information about the already uploaded item in order to reflect the reproduction order between the items in the CDS (206). However, this process may be omitted when the playback order for each item is directly managed by the control point.

Subsequently, when the playback is completed while the upload and playback are performed in parallel, that is, the upload is finished, the control point ends the current upload to play the next volume (208) and browses the item. (209) Playback is resumed at the same time as playback (210, 211, 212).

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of processing content in a UPnP control point according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When the user starts a time shift by pressing the <PAUSE> button of the digital TV while watching live broadcast (301), the control point starts uploading (302). After that, if the user presses the <STOP> button, the time shift is terminated and the digital TV will play back the live broadcast in real time (305).

If the user presses the <REW> button, if there is an item change, that is, if the button is pressed to play the previous item, the digital TV plays the previous item (313), and if there is no change, If you press and hold the button to search the previous contents, the corresponding operation is performed. If the previous item does not exist, the current item is played (314).

If the user changes the item by pressing the play button or the <FF> button, the digital TV terminates the upload that is in progress (308) and plays the next item and uploads the content received in real time from the broadcast channel again. (310). If the next item does not exist, that is, the playback time corresponding to the next item is the current time point, the digital TV ends the time shift and plays the live broadcast again in real time (305).

4 illustrates a structure of a CreateObject message according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, parameters such as "temporary", "duration", "nextitem", and "previtem" are added to a CreateObject message complying with the Digital Living Network Association (DLNA) guidelines.

First, "temporary" is attribute information of an item and indicates whether the item is temporary or permanent, and should be deleted by the server if it is temporary. "duration" indicates the time that can exist after the item is created if the "temporary" value is true, that is, if the item is temporary. In FIG. After 1800 seconds have elapsed, the created item is deleted.

"previtem" indicates identification information regarding the previous item of the item generated by the message of FIG. 4, and "nextitem" indicates identification information about the next item of the item generated by the message of FIG. This is to understand the playback order of the. If the identification information of the previous item or the next item is missing or unknown, the value -1 may be omitted or omitted. At the time of creating the item, the identification information of the next item may be unknown. Therefore, the identification information about the next item may be updated by the control point calling the UpdateObject action of the CDS of the server in the step of generating the next item.

Referring to FIG. 4, the next item is not yet generated since the value of "nextitem" is -1, and the previous item is 13 having the value of identification information because the value of "previtem" is 13.

5 is a view for explaining the operation of the PVR implemented according to an embodiment of the present invention.

If user presses the PAUSE button on the remote control at the time while watching the live broadcast from the time point, the time shift starts and the screen of the digital TV remains stopped at the time point, but the digital TV shows the broadcast received in real time through the channel. Record and upload to media server connected to home network. When the user presses the play button on the remote control at the time point, the digital TV ends uploading and plays the A item, which is the upload amount from the time point to the time point, from the beginning corresponding to the time point. At this time, the digital TV starts to re-upload the broadcast received in real time from the time point while playing back item A.

If the upload and playback are performed at the same time and the playback of the item A is completed at the time point, the digital TV terminates the upload and resumes the new upload again, and plays the item B from the first part corresponding to the time point.

If the user briefly presses the <FF> button on the remote control to watch from the point corresponding to the time point while the item B is being played, the digital TV ends uploading and plays the C item from the first point corresponding to the time point. Of course, digital TV starts uploading live broadcasts received after that point in time. When the user presses the STOP button on the remote control, the time shift ends and the digital TV plays the broadcast in real time.

6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a media server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The media server analyzes the request to the control point (601), generates an item when the control point requests upload (602), receives the content (603), and when the upload is finished, Reflect URL.

When the control point requests a browse, the media server queries the items of the CDS (605) and transmits a list of the uploaded items to the control point (606).

When the control point requests the update of the CDS item, that is, when the control point requests to reflect the item identification information regarding the playback order as described above, the media server performs the operation (607).

On the other hand, the media server analyzes the item and deletes the expired item according to the "duration" value described above.

7 is a structural diagram of a client device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Here, the client device refers to a device including a control point in a UPnP home network and receiving and playing content from a media server. Generally, the client device will be a digital TV.

As shown in FIG. 7, the client device 700 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a user input receiver 710, a broadcast receiver 720, a playback unit 730, an uploader 740, and an I / O. Interface 750.

The user input receiver 710 receives a signal according to an input from a user, and the broadcast receiver 720 receives a real time broadcast through a wired or wireless channel. The playback unit 730 plays back the real-time broadcast received through the broadcast receiver 720 or the content received from the server 760. I / O interface 750 is a means for enabling client 700 to communicate with server 760 in a home network.

When the input unit 740 receives an input for starting the time shift through the user input receiver 710, the upload unit 740 receives the real time broadcast received through the broadcast receiver 720 to the server 760 through the I / O interface 750. send. After receiving a user input to start playback again, the uploader 740 terminates the upload so that the playback unit 730 can receive the playback from the server 760 for the amount that the upload is completed and resume uploading again. do. That is, the uploading unit 740 may need to access an item currently being uploaded by a user input input through the user input receiving unit 710 or when the uploading amount played by the playback unit 730 is exhausted. When the upload is ended, the server can reflect the URL of the content to the CDS, and then start the upload again.

Meanwhile, the above-described embodiments of the present invention can be written as a program that can be executed in a computer, and can be implemented in a general-purpose digital computer that operates the program using a computer-readable recording medium.

The computer-readable recording medium may be a magnetic storage medium (for example, a ROM, a floppy disk, a hard disk, etc.), an optical reading medium (for example, a CD-ROM, a DVD, etc.) and a carrier wave (for example, the Internet). Storage medium). So far I looked at the center of the preferred embodiment for the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be implemented in a modified form without departing from the essential features of the present invention. Therefore, the disclosed embodiments should be considered in descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. The scope of the present invention is shown in the claims rather than the foregoing description, and all differences within the scope will be construed as being included in the present invention.

According to the present invention, a user can watch a live broadcast using a time shift function like a PVR using only an existing home network device without having a separate PVR device.

Claims (15)

A method for processing content by a client receiving and playing content, which has been uploaded to a server in a home network, from the server, (a) uploading content received in a real time broadcast channel to the server from the time when an external timeshift input is received; and (b) terminating the upload if an external input for reproducing an arbitrary time point after the time point is received in the content during the upload. The method of claim 1, (c) reproducing the uploaded portion from the portion requested to be reproduced by the external input of the step (b) and simultaneously uploading content received from the channel to the server from the time when the upload is finished; Method comprising a. The method of claim 2, And when the reproduction of the upload amount of step (a) is completed, ending the upload of step (c). The method of claim 3, wherein And reproducing the upload amount of step (c) from the beginning and uploading the content received from the channel to the server from the time when the upload of step (c) is finished. The method of claim 2, and (d) terminating the uploading of the step (c) if an external input for reproducing an arbitrary point in time after the uploading of the step (a) is received. The method of claim 5, The content uploaded in step (c) is played from the portion requested to be reproduced by the external input in step (d), and the content received from the channel is uploaded to the server from the time when the upload in step (c) is finished. The method further comprises the step of. The method of claim 1, And transmitting time information to the server to cause the server to delete the uploaded amount after a predetermined time has elapsed. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7. A client device for receiving content from a server and playing the content, which has been uploaded to a server in a home network, From the time point at which an external timeshift input is received, the content received in the real time broadcasting channel is transmitted to the server to perform a first upload, and the content of the first upload is reproduced at any time after the time point. An upload unit to terminate the first upload when an external input is received; And And a reproducing unit reproducing the first upload amount starting from a portion requested to be reproduced by an external input received during the first upload. The method of claim 9, And the uploading unit performs a second upload for transmitting the content received from the time point when the first upload is terminated in the channel to the server while the playback unit plays the first upload amount. The method of claim 10, And when the reproducing of the first upload amount is completed, the uploading unit terminates the second upload and the reproducing unit reproduces the second uploading quantity from the beginning. The method of claim 11, The uploading unit uploads the content received from the time point when the second upload is finished in the channel to the server while the playback unit is playing the second upload amount. The method of claim 10, If an external input for reproducing an arbitrary time point after the end of the first upload is received, the uploading unit terminates the second upload and the reproducing unit transmits the second upload amount to the external input received during the second upload. And reproducing from the portion requested for reproducing. The method of claim 13, The uploading unit further comprises the step of uploading the content received from the time point when the second upload is finished in the channel to the server while the playback unit is playing the second upload amount. The method of claim 9, The apparatus further comprises an information transmitting unit for transmitting the time information for the server to delete the amount of the upload is completed to the server after a predetermined time passes.

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